From cheese rolling to bog snorkelling, we Brits love our wacky sporting pastimes. A raft of hilarious spectacles take place annually, often as part of a festival steeped in tradition and local culture. Head off on an adventure and discover the strange and wonderfully eccentric goings-on – perhaps you’ll have a go yourself?
No one is quite sure of the origins of this surreal event. Some say it was all about grazing rights, while others talk about it being a fertility ritual. Either way, the tradition is thought to go back some 600 years and shows no signs of stopping.
Cheer on the crazy competitors of The Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake as they hurtle down a hill after a round of Double Gloucester cheese. Cheese has been recorded hurtling down the hill at 70mph (113km/h) – that’s the speed limit on British motorways.
Watch competitors take the plunge during the bog snorkelling weekender in mid Wales. A 60-metre swim in a peat bog is just the thing for an August day.
Held in the tiny town of Llanwrtyd Wells, it’s billed as a unique endurance race. Why not get down and dirty yourself, or just cheer on the filthy competitors as they push through the mud?
Ride the train on the Talyllyn Railway to Abergynolwyn in Wales and watch as scores of runners attempt to beat you to your destination. Competitors come from all over the globe to have a go.
The Talyllyn Railway was the first of the small railways to be rescued by a preservation society, and is now known as one of the Great Little Trains of Wales.
Part of the Cattistock Countryside Show, competitors throw three savoury biscuits called Dorset Knobs to see who can toss it the furthest. Other activities on the day include a dog show, horse shows, and homemade produce competitions.
Part of the annual Congham Fete, near King’s Lynn, Norfolk, more than 200 snails battle it out for the fastest time over a 13-inch course. Find your own snail and watch them painfully slowly battle it out, until they make a ‘dash’ to the finish line.
Head to the village of Stacksteads, Lancashire, and watch grown adults wrestle in gravy for two minutes to be crowned World Gravy Wrestling Champion. If it isn’t crazy enough, competitors are given extra points for fancy dress, comedy impact and of course, wrestling ability. You’ll never view gravy in the same way after watching this.
If your parents ever told you to stop pulling ‘that face’, you might just have found the spot where you’re welcome. Witness and wince as people distort their faces into the most grotesque poses they can manage. It’s held at the Egremont Crab Fair on the western fringes of the Lake District National Park.
Watch some of the finest skimmers effortlessly glide a piece of Easdale slate from Easdale Island, south of Oban in Scotland, at the World Stone Skimming Championships. Competitors get three skims each to set their score. But it’s never set in stone, and next year they often come back to give it a go.
Watch as a bunch of fancy-dress-clad competitors dash over 400 metres of muddy riverbed at low tide. With more than 20,000 people coming to watch, the event has attracted participants from all over the world.
